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Movies / Upcoming / Phone Booth
Phone Booth

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Phone Booth (2003)

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Reviews Counted:182

Fresh:130

Rotten:52

Average Rating:6.6/10

Consensus: Quick pacing and Farrell's performance help make Phone Booth a tense nail-biter.

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $46,524,362

Synopsis: Red-hot superstar Colin Farrell ("Daredevil," "The Recruit") toplines the thriller PHONE BOOTH, from director Joel Schumacher. A phone call can change your life, but for one man it can also end it.... Red-hot superstar Colin Farrell ("Daredevil," "The Recruit") toplines the thriller PHONE BOOTH, from director Joel Schumacher. A phone call can change your life, but for one man it can also end it. Set entirely within and around the confines of a New York City phone booth, PHONE BOOTH follows Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell), a low-rent media consultant who is trapped after being told by a caller - a serial killer with a sniper rifle - that he'll be shot dead if he hangs up.

What do you do when you hear a ringing public phone? You know it's a wrong number, but instinct forces you to pick it up. A ringing phone demands to be answered, but when Stu Shepard takes the call, he finds himself hurtled into a tortuous game. Hang up, says the caller (Kiefer Sutherland), and Stu's a dead man.

A sudden and shocking act of violence near the booth draws the attention of the police, who arrive backed with a small army of sharpshooters. They believe that Stu, not the unseen caller of whom they remain unaware, is the dangerous man with a gun.

The senior officer on the scene, Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker), tries to talk Stu out of the booth. But unbeknownst to Ramey, his team, the media circus that has flocked to the site - and Stu's wife, Kelly, and his client /prospective girlfriend, Pamela - the caller has them all in his high-powered rifle sights.

As afternoon turns into evening, Stu, the embodiment of an unethical, self-serving existence, must now undertake a sudden and unexpected moral evolution. He is emotionally stripped naked by the caller. Stu's lies, half-truths, and obfuscation no longer matter. Instead, he must dig deep into his soul, find his strength and attempt to outwit the caller, taking the game to an even more dangerous level. -- © Fox [More]

Starring: Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Kiefer Sutherland, Katie Holmes

Starring: Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Kiefer Sutherland, Katie Holmes, Radha Mitchell, Tia Texada, Richard T. Jones

Director: Joel Schumacher

Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriter: Larry Cohen
Producer: David Zucker, Gil Netter
Composer: Harry Gregson-Williams
Studio: 20th Century Fox

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Reviews for Phone Booth

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
05/30/03
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Interesting, contemporary, thought-provoking and above all entertaining in a smart way

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
03/24/03
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The next time I hear a payphone ringing, I definitely won't pick it up.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/10/09
Blake French
Blake French
Filmcritic.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
N/R

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Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/02/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
12/27/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
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Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
03/05/05
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic

Phone Booth est un excellent suspense, mais aussi un drame psychologique qui s’aura vous divertir.

Full Review Source: Panorama | comment Comment
02/25/05
Louis-Jérôme Cloutier
Louis-Jérôme Cloutier
Panorama

... a solid 90 minutes of well-intentioned entertainment, but it will do more to fuel urban paranoia than it will to make anybody re-examine their lives.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
01/15/05
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: tonymedley.com | comment Comment
10/07/04
Tony Medley
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com

Way beyond plausible, but mercifully short.

Full Review Source: F5 (Wichita, KS) | comment Comment
07/06/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)
N/R

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Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
05/19/04
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune

As pure entertainment, Phone Booth succeeds as well as any movie released in the past few years.

Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) | comment Comment
01/06/04
Greg Maki
Greg Maki
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

Phone Booth is a much better movie than it has any right to be, given its absurd premise...

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
01/04/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal | comment Comment
11/11/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
all

Latest News for Phone Booth

July 20, 2007: Larry Cohen Plans Remakes of It's Alive, Black Caesar, and The Stuff
Long before he wrote movies like "Phone Booth," "Cellular," and (ugh) "Captivity," filmmaker Larry Cohen was making horror movies about killer babies. And (guess what?) he just... More...

February 07, 2007: Joel Schumacher Wants to Direct Neil Gaiman's "Sandman"???
At last year's Comic Con, writer/artist Neil Gaiman said "I'd rather no Sandman movie got made than [to have] a bad Sandman movie." And now comes word that director... More...

January 19, 2006: Critical Consensus: "Spear," "New World" Are OK, Not Great
This week at the movies brings us three culture clashes: Native Americans and Europeans ("The New World"), the Waodani people of Ecuador and a group of missionaries... More...

May 09, 2005: Elisha Cuthbert Bound for "Captivity"
Variety brings news of the currently young and hot Elisha Cuthbert's next big role. Only a few days removed from the opening of her "House of Wax," Ms. Cuthbert has... More...

See All

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